Platinum Equity to Acquire CBS Outdoor International

CBS Corp. on Tuesday said that it will sell its CBS Outdoor International subsidiary to an affiliate of Beverly Hills private equity firm Platinum Equity for about $225 million.

Platinum, led by billionaire Tom Gores, said it has the focus and international reach to build the outdoor advertising business. CBS Outdoor International operates in the U.K., Ireland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and China.

"This was a complex carve out that required real collaboration between buyer and seller with a strong emphasis on quality of execution," Gores said in a statement.

The New York media giant announced in January that it was pulling back from billboard, bus shelter and other outdoor advertising businesses in order to better focus on creating and distributing media content. Its U.S. business, CBS Outdoor, is being spun out into a tax-advantaged real estate investment trust, with the parent company still controlling an 80 percent stake. CBS filed for an initial public offering on the conversion last month.